A6P10: The aftermath

I returned to dungeon later then I expected, becouse I met old man Guzzner, who was my client back in the day.

„What do you want Guzzner?“

„I came to offer you my services, sir Zaru,“ the old dwarf said with a wink.

„You just want to meet my strategists right? You never change old man, but sure, offer me your loyalty and I shall reward you.“

„As you command lord Zaru!“

With Phara and Guzzner I returned inside the dungeon by Gurem Dungeon entry.

When I came there I was greeted by one of the demonesses I summoned in fort of the last queen.

„If you’re here, then it must went rather smoothly,“ I said as I was walking to the throne room.

„Yes my lord. During your absence here, the Durel dukedom attacked, but was repelled. At the same time, just as you forseen it, the Dwarven council state attacked the Fortress city and was repelled by combined strenght of Lady Yuki, Lady Miira and Lady Renzir. As you instructed us, we attacked the cities and kidnaped as many civilians as possible. By doing that the city named Tur capitulated, the fighting forces of Dwarves were cut to bare minimum and the Head of State, Dozan was publicly executed. We belive that sooner than later there will be envoy with offering of peace.“

„Great, I will turn the new places into our dungeon area tomorrow. Please select soldiers that were taken alive, if they are from Tur city we will release them there.“

„Also, Miss Hestia send her lesser vampires to take over some land of Durel dukedom.“

„I see, I will turn that places tomorrow as well. Send message to our people in royal capital to deliver message to royal family. We will crush the Durel dukedom as payback for attacking us. If they don’t interfere we will not strike against the Astenna kingdom.“

„Understood, I will inform our people in royal capital right away,“ the demoness said and teleported away.

Next I was called by Lizzie to meet with Filona and Fia in my alchemy lab.

As I opened the door, I was greeted by strange type of undead called Husk. It was carrying boxes with heavy objects like nothing.

„Wait… he kinda looks like… well, she did hate him… whatever, let’s go.“

In room behind main lab is freezing room, where I had stored various things, from cold loving herbs to body parts. Never have I thought that I will find something like headless body there as well, but whatever.

„So this was the general of the Durel dukedom’s forces?“ I asked

„Yes, he was using a replica of holy sword of the last Hero of Astenna kingdom. Could you turn it into demonic blade too?“ Hestia asked as she was handling me the sword.

„I can try…“

I poured some magic into the sword and it started to change shape. From giant white broadsword it turned into black and red rapier. I used Identify as usual.

[Demonic blade of Carnage deaths (inferior)]: Vampirism, Blood control, Life drain, Mana drain.

„Seems it’s perfect fit for you Hestia. It have vampirism, life drain and mana drain and also blood control. Truly perfect blade for a vampire.“

„Oh, thank you! …smooch,“ she smiled and kissed me on cheek, which gave her a series of hissing from my wives.

„AHEM! Can we continue with our main reason we came here?“ Kyoko said and shoot daggers at Hestia.

„You wanted me to turn this body into homunculi, right?“

„Can you do it?“

„Of course.“

I took some dead dwarven soldiers from my Magic bag and stuffed them inside magic crystal I got alongside declaration of vazalization of Gurem. I could put at least ten adult dwarves inside it. After that I put the crystal in place of heart and stitched the head back to the body. After that I used magic to combine the crystal filled with dwarven bodies and the generals body. Usually, I would combine all bodies together, but they would need to be of same race. Also, the magic crystal I used serves as a stabilizator.

In that moment, a familiar feeling came to my mind. Kaen was back.

„Everyone, we are moving to the throne room. Kyoko call Haba, her brother is back.“

„On it!“

We quickly made our way to the throne room, where Kaen was waiting.

„My lord! I have returned!“

„I see you were succesful, those spirits behind you, All of them are higher species. Greater spirits and Demi-spirits.“

„Yes! That is also becouse of you my lord!“

„Oh? And how’s so?“

„When you evolved into True demon lord, I as your subordinate evolved as well. I become Flame spirit king.“

„Yes, I see, very good job. Now to adress everyone. My name is Zaru, I’m demon king of Demonic kingdom Zaruul. To mark you as my subordinates, I will give you names. Form lines by element you are affiliated with.“

The number of spirits were as follows: 125 fire spirits, 94 earth spirits, 98 wind spirits, and astounding number of 212 water spirits. After they all evolved into even higher versions of spitits, Kaen, who was de facto their leader evolved as well. Now, he was Spirit emperor and he could also use lightning in addition to fire.

After that I gave Kaen his new body and created a new floor where the sprits could live.

*

Capital city of Astenna, Astar. Inner palace of Jenka castle.

The king was already on deaths door. Or at least that was what everyone thought. Yet the old king still lived. He was already 88 years old and in his life he never tasted defeat.

He defended the kingdom agains Demon spider queendom and their queen Arana. He destroyed dangerous faction that threatened the very existence of the kingdom. But now, there was something even he couldn’t fight against with his old body.

The threat coming from two sides. Monsters in north and noble faction in the south.

Ester dukedom, where his second and third sons were maried off to got nearly wiped out by monsters that came after Snow peaks of Snowy mountains turned red. The number of A rank monster rised ten times in less then three weeks and their numbers continued to grow. Which caused steampades happen all over the Ester dukedom.

Duke Durel in south-west of the kingdom tried to take control of one dwarven city, but was repeled. Still, danger he and Duke Darius, his cousin, posed, was too much right now for the weakened king.

The king and Captain of Royal guard were in parlor with third princess, Monica. Princess Monica was called the most beutiful princess, thanks to her long blonde hairs and light blue eyes full of empathy and some even saw love for her subjects in them.

Only the king knew of the fact that that was just a facade. Becouse just as him, she was admiring the demon lords.

Yes, he did repeled the Demon lord Arane, but that also was a facade. No-one knew that, but Albea the succubus, daughter of Arane, was also daughter of the king. And one of the only reasons the demon spider queendom didn't attack in so long.

The princess sipped her tea, and said: „Father, I heard the demon lord that appeared in Snowy mountains is getting more and more active.“

„Yes, but as long as he’s not targeting us, we should be fine. If anything, I belive that the loser Durel can be made into nice sacrificial pawn.“

„Ah, yes. That would be quite wonderful, but is it doable?“

„Quite so,“ an erie voice ringed through the room putting the Captain of royal guard on edge. Yet in the next moment his movements were sealed by thread control.

After that, a maid which was recently hired appeared from the shadows.

„You­­–“

„Sorry for the intrusion, I’m one of maids serving lord Zaru, King of Demonic kingdom Zaruul. I came to deliver you a message from my king. 'I will take over Durel dukedom for their attack on my personal lands. If you get involved, I will strike you down.'“

„W-we understand. Do what you have to do. Our army is too busy with monster outbreak in the Ester dukedom anyway.“

The maid nodded and disappeared.

„Such a presence…“ princess exhaled.

Seems my underwear went through a crisis… I wonder how it would feel to be in front of the Demon king himself… she thought.

The king looked at chess figures on the table. Then he took queen and king of one color and put them to sides of the other king.

„Seems we are cut from Holy empire by another powerful demon lord… Monica. After this crisis is over, I will abdicate and leave the throne to your brother Hellbert.“

„In that case I will also seclude myself to countryside…“ the princess smiled.

I will go to borders between Margel dukedom and royal prefecture and I will be one step away from demon lord… fufufuu, I’m lookong forward to it, she thought and started preparing her plans for future.

*

At same time a delegation from Dwarven council state arrived at Fortress city and were taken stright to the dungeon via entery opened there.

As I was sitting on my throne with my wives and Zalum at sides, the delegacy entered the throne room lead in by Tomi, the assassin maid.

When the delegacy lined before the throne, they all fell to the knees frighten to the bones. Guess that [Dark cloak] spell I use to frighten enemies is even stronger now that I become True demon lord…

Lizzie, sitting next to me adressed them first: „Speak.“

„Y-yes! We came here to deliver message from our new Head of the State. Lord Guzzner wishes for peace with you, Your Majesty. In order to achieve that, he offers 15% of our annual budget and wishes to open negotations about prisoners of war.“

„Ah, yes. I remember them, ten priests from the first battle and the generals who were with them. Then there are the two brigades we took as prisoners and the kidnaped people given to us by the demons,“ Lizzie continued.

„Y-yes, exactly!“ the first to speak of the delegacy group spoke again. He was a blue haired dwarf with round nose.

„Twenty percent. The payment will be paid in equal parts through the next ten years. Lizzie how much can we ask for in exchange for one person?“

„T-twenty percent…“ the dwarf shivered as if he expected that sum of money, but still refused to accept it.

„Yes, given that none of our prisoners is capable of resisting us anymore, I belive that about ten gold per person, should be acceptable and the dwarves should still be able to pay the first payment.“

„Yes, from what I heard the annual budget of capital city Carben is ten million Gold. Your territory is half of what it used to be, so after you calculate your annual budget for next year let us look into it,“ I smiled at the blue haired dwarf.

What the hell?! How does he know our capitals annual budget?! Wait… don’t tell me he planned for all this? How much does he really know? I must keep my mind clear, one misstep and we are done… and that elvish woman… she’s as dangerous as him. She doesn’t let anything show on her face… she must be the prime minister here, the blue haired dwarf thought.

„I see.“

„Well, the total number of our prisoners is… Lizzie could you?“

„Yes. The total number is 1 253 450 people. That means 12 534 500 gold , slighly more then the annual budget of the Carben city, but your remaining cities can pull some weight as well.“

That amount of money… are they trying to ruin us? …probably yes. I’m sure that if we show weakness to Balgom merchant union, Holy empire or some of the small nations south east from us we will have hard time surviving… is he planning to colonize us in the off chance we will start loosing?

To my knowledge, Bastillian knightly kingdom, Wolfman principality Valor, Scalefolk marquistate Wil And Primal dragon theocracy are currently conquering nearby small kingdoms. Most explosive is deffinitely the Pazzer dukedom in south-east, they already destroyed three kingdoms around them and the two to the south from them are probably going to go agains them… wait, don’t tell me he prepared for this as well… we pulled Durel dukedom into this so the power of Astenna kingdom in the south will waver… what a frightening foe… if we don’t unite all western kingdoms under one alliance we will deffinitely fall, the representative thought.

„Well, if that’s all, then go back to your country. We are rather busy here in Zaruul,“ I said while playing with new gold coin, which was recently brought here.

„Y-yes…“ the representatives bowed and left the room.

Early in the next morning I finished turning eastern part of Durel dukedom into my dungeon area. All was really fast thanks to Phara, who could traverse this entire ten days worth of walking in less then seven hours.

„Urgh… finaly some free time,“ I said as I sit down on sofa in my office.

„Sorry, but I still have some things you have to look at,“ Lizzie said and put ten sheets of paper on coffee-table.

„Urgh… shoudn’t you rest? I know that elvish pregnancy only last six months, so you need more rest then humans.“

„I can still do my job like this and question you about what the hell happened with that Phara girl.“

„Eh? …oh, yeah… she’s Wrath fenrir, I summoned her. Did you know that fenrirs marry their summoners? I didn’t.“

„Is that so?“ Lizzie said with cold voice.

„Well, what are those papers? Cities we took over? …so Tur is mainly food producing city, but the food for their beasts was bought from Lana city and City of Glu. Well, one is now in different territory and the other is destroyed so they ask for provisions for their beasts. What are they rising and what does it eat?“

„They rise Blue lizards and Black frogs, both eat mostly smaller lizards and bugs. We could make farm for those on some floors no?“

„Yeah, I was planning to make additional floors. Right now, without final floor, we have seven floors. Five of them are production and prison based.“

„So are we making new floors? Do you have enough DP?“ Miira asked.

„Yeah, after I turned the last parts of the land that the lesser vampires took for us, I found out that there is upper limit for DP. For me it’s ten millions, just enought to summon lesser dragon or fenrir.“

„You can’t summon more fenrirs, you know that right, darling?“

„Of course, Lizzie.“

After that I decided to create marsh-based floor and summon first blue lizards (they cost one DP per lizard, talk about cheap!) Weirdly, Dragonsnake people (Nagas and Lamias) sweared to rise them before I even asked. As part of this marsh, I created small fish farm and called lizardman and Green scalefolk to work on it. Same way as Dragonsnake people they were really happy about it.

Kesugi and Gurako, told me they will rise Demon worms and Hell moths so I can leave it to them… not really sure why, as Kesugi is Crystal Arachne, but it’s OK with me so I allowed it.

With first paper done, I set for the rest of them. Second and third papers were from same place. Former Ork kingdom. The first was from Ogre village I set up on border with High elvish Empire. Some elves come to do bussiness with them and they got their hands on some rare materials from their country. Also they recieved message from the pair of High elves we released from ork custody that they want to become ambasadors in our country after some official bussiness of their higher-ups is done.

„Just as as we predicted, High elves wants to form alliance with us. Or maybe just non-aggresion pact,“ Lizzie said.

„Yeah, High elves are really prideful so it’s hard for them to go out of their way to propose an alliance.“

„You can say that again. Wait, is that why you placed those fake dungeons near borders?“

„Exactly Lizzie, you catch on quick.“

„You really… show them carrot and then let them follow you…“

„The next thing is that the former ogre kingdom will be Kyoko’s personal land. With that, next thing is Fortress city and the dwarven cities we gained in the last war. I plan to leave it under Rhetsu, as he seems capable so far.“

„That seems good to us as well.“

„So with that done, we should decide on what to do with the Durel dukedom. Personally, I don’t want to kill more people then necessary,“ I said while folding my hands.

„We let some of the people we captured in those villages go with saying that ‚our King have problem with duke, not the people‘ we released them along the border and some of them were send to Margel Dukedom so we wouldn’t get disturbed from outside. How long do you thing it will take before the rumors spread?“ Lizzie asked.

„I would say a month or so. Sure, the duke will try to stop the rumors from spreading, but we also released rumors that he have people of uncertain origins as bodyguards.“

„Uncertain origins?“

„Let’s say that there was a person completly dressed in black radiating demonic aura flying from dukes castle towards mountains. Or that when only daughter of the duke tried to help old man who was almost run down by carrage he turned into demon, when she touched him.“

„The hell is that Zaru?!“ Miira exclaimed supprisedly.

„I had my newly summoned demons sow some disturbance in their main city. The rest is in hands of the people in the dukedom.“

„Demon lord through and through…“ Miira said with wry smile.

And with that done, two months have passed.